Hold Me Close
by Becki3
Summary: The Marauders pull a stunt during a karaoke escapade, and the night ends with a slight surprize. Which leads to a very confuzzled Remus J. Lupin as well as one with a hangover.
1. A Slight of Drinks

Title: Keep Me Close

Spoilers: Not really, but some from anything you've heard about the past from books 1-5

Rating: PG-13, better safe than sorry, no?

Disclaimer: I own nodda, the song belongs to the Offspring…I think and the characters, etc don't belong to me either.. Wouldn't mind owning them though...in my dreams.

Other things: This is a slash fic, if you do not like slash then you need not read.

Pairings: S/R, and probably others -

Author's Note: Okay, this is my second HP fic…I'm going to finish the other one I swear!! I had the next chapter almost done and my computer ate it somehow. Anyways, this started out as an one-shot, the whole part that is in third-person narration. Depending on what the readers think I may or may not continue this. If not, I'll get rid of the Remmy narration in the end and call it a finished product. If yes, well, the Marauders are in for quite the hassle.

CHAPTER 1: A Slight of Drinks

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No one was quite sure who came up with the idea, but as soon as the faint rumors began many supporters came into being. The idea was this; to have a muggle karaoke and party of sorts.

First thing that had had to be done was to make it possible for the muggle devices to work in such a magic-filled area. It had taken a while but thanks to the efforts of several unwillingly and a few curious professors and students the feat had been accomplished. The Great Hall had been transformed into, well…it was definitely not a boarding school place for dining anymore. Thankfully it was spared most of the flash and flare of the muggle 70's though there were a few of those unavoidable disco balls. And the flashing lights played havoc with quite a few people's nerves.

At last, it was the night of the event. Students piled into what had once had been the Great Hall, a grand stage stood where the teacher's table had used to lounge. Small, circular tables with scattering of chairs had replaced the lengthy house tables. Houses were even doing the unthinkable and mingling. Some of the less then law-abiding students had swindled in various sorts of alcohol, which were either being bought by their peers or being put into the unsuspecting drinks of others.

Occasionally a teen, most of the time a group of them would appear on stage and sing (not always good though). The songs were by far very interesting in that the selection had been placed under a little charm to widen the choices, for any piece within the century.

"Ballroom scene, but the fire underneath. Gonna eat you alive, gonna bring you to you're knees." An eerily familiar voice rang out and the audience fell silent. Several girls who spend a considerable amount of their time worshipping/ stalking the owner let out high-pitched squeals. One second year Gryffindor with long red hair hastily turned with wide blue eyes to the stage, knowing that his idol would be appearing within a few moments that stretched for decades.

An explosion of music filled the Great Hall. About ten seconds into the song a lengthy Gryffindor slid out from behind the curtain, striding confidently towards the center of the stage with a casual, cocky air. The lean youth flashed the crowd a trademark toothy grin. Clad in a pair of rather well fitting leather pants, a crimson silken shirt (the top few buttons undone of course) finished by a denim jacket, it was none other than the infamous Sirius Black. That perfect raven hair swayed with the rhythm of his steps, which matched the beat of the melody. He brought to the microphone to his lips.

"Went out drinking late last night I had a blast!" Sirius sang, his voice not actually the best, but the passion made up for it. Not too mention the swaying hips helped quite a bit.

"But now the morning light has come and kicked my ass!"

"Woooah!" Broke out another set of voices from backstage. By now most students had figured out that the Marauders were up to one of their exploits again.  
  
"I've got the worst hangover ever. I'm crawling to the bathroom again. It hurts so bad that I'm never gonna drink again!!"

"Da da da da! Da da da! . . ." Cried out a pair of voices in unison as Gryffindor's wild haired Seeker stepped out onto stage. He marched up to stand by his best friend and with a wink to a certain Lily Evans (who rolled her eyes in return) accompanied by a cheeky smirk he ran his fingers through his ebony hair. Sirius nudged him in the side with an impatient elbow. James twirled his microphone once and began.  
  
"And by my seventh shot I was invincible!" Potter's voice was at the least better then Sirius' though his attire of just a plain pair of jeans and a black t-shirt couldn't compare. He felt impelled to act along with the words, he raised his arm and pretended to flex his biceps. Lily made a move to escape into the safety of the kitchen but her friends held her down.

"I would have never thought I'd be this miserable!"

"Sides when Evans turns you down." Whispered Sirius with a wicked smile and was rewarded with a nice thwap on the head.

"Woooah!" Came the unseen back up singers.  
  
"I've got the worst hangover ever. I'm rolling back and forth on the bed. I'm worked so bad that I'm never gonna drink again!" Prongs was visibly enjoying his solo very much so.

"Da da da da! Da da da! . . ." Broke out Sirius' tenor as well as one of the unviewed singers. As they did so another known teen strutted out. That's right, Remus Lupin strutted. The naturally reclusive boy had evidently gone through a lot of prepping for the occasion. His golden hair was pulled into a defiant and messy ponytail, amber eyes bright with excitement and a smile tugging at the edges of his lips. Someone with a sense of fashion had apparently helped him out with his selection of clothes tonight. A pair of sleek pants, black, and a pale yellow tanktop with long sleeves, so that a lovely piece of pale flesh was visible as well as a bellybutton, decked our favorite werewolf. A particular Slytherin promptly dropped his half-filled jug of butterbeer, and more than a few other people gaped. Sirius wrapped his arm around the thin boy's shoulder as he stepped between him and James.  
  
"Won't someone just kill me? And put me out of my misery!" Lupin's voice was by far sweeter and lighter to those of the others.

"I'm making deals with God, I'll do anything! Make it stop please! Make it stop please!" Remus' alto pleaded to thin air.

"Woooah!" Chorused the three on stage as the last member of the quartet nervously waltzed out from behind the curtains to join them. The mousy-haired Gryffindor had visibly preferred not being the center of attention. The teen wore a pair of loose kakhis and a light blue sweater. Unfortunate Peter nearly stumbled as he made his way but managed in the nick of time to regain his balance. With a gulp and a reassuring look from his friends the short boy started singing.  
  
"I've got the worst hangover ever I'm crawling to the bathroom again. It hurts so bad that I'm never gonna drink again!" Wormtail's voice had a slight shrilly tone to it but was softer than his counterparts and not the worst.

"I'll probably never drink again!" Yelled rather than sang James, raising his mike to the ceiling in a mock salute."I may not ever drink again!" Sirius shouted, his grin stretching from ear to ear."At least not 'til next weekend!" Remus declared with a smirk, his hand slipping to rest on his hip, a pose and expression never before seen on the boy."I'm never gonna drink again!" Peter cried out the last line, putting his heart into it.

And with that the song ended, and the audience broke out in wild applause. James flung his microphone to Peter who fumbled but succeeded in catching it. The Seeker then leaped off the stage, eagerly running to the Head Girl of the Gryffindor house to probably see what she had thought of his little performance.

"You're drunk Remmy." Whispered Sirius.

"Am not…maybe just a bit tipsy." Admitted the more than just a tad intoxicated, more likely thoroughly so, Lupin. He was rewarded with a light chuckle from the other followed by a…snog, one of those fireworks erupting, flashing lights, car alarm sounding, pulsating, had a life of its own, that a person believes can only ever happen in dreams, that doesn't need the moonlight serenading, or sunbathed green fields to feel perfect, stars slipping from the heavens kind of kiss. And all Remus did in response was to lazily rest his head on Sirius' shoulder and sigh contentedly.

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Remus Lupin slipped his head under the pillow, shielding his face from the outside world, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as his head dully pounded. He emitted a soft groan, which was muffled by the pillow.

He had woken up with a pounding headache, so severe that he hadn't been able to walk in a straight line much less remember last night's events. In fact, he had actually passed out during breakfast, fortunately he had fallen to the side instead of forward or backwards. Thus he avoided a face first encounter with his scrambled eggs or worse his specially made iron utensils (since silver was clearly out of the question for the young werewolf) or the stone floor of the Great Hall. Instead, Remus had ended up in the warm lap of the person sitting adjacent to him. Good thing he had been unconscious by the time that had happened or else he would have had to face a very astonished and red Sirius Black. Sirius had almost fallen off the bench backwards in utter shock at having an unexpected though not entirely unwelcome guest. For the Marauders there had been no time for the usual laughter and joking, instead they frantically hurried their friend to the Hospital Wing where Madame Pomfrey had received them.

Now the golden haired boy was able to think coherently. The gritty hangover potion having kicked into affect. As the headache faded, blurred memories of the preceding day had begun to form in Remus Lupin's pained mind. Fragments merging to provide the Gryffindor with a pretty clear idea what had taken place. The school had put on some karaoke bar of a sort. Yes…he remembered that.. Who had thought of the idea of them performing…James… Sirius had eagerly agreed to the skit. And Peter had conceded quickly. Remus had been the only one not to be too enthusiastic with the plan. Singing before a large portion of the student body? No, that not among the priority of his things to do list. The werewolf had a strong feeling he could have lived quite happily ever after if he had never heard Jamsie's bloody brilliant idea in the first place. Well, the problem was that he had, and he had eventually given into the pestering and whining of the other three. He might have been able to squirm himself out of the entire fiasco if it hadn't been for Sirius' flawless puppy dog eyes.

Had he been drunk? Yes, thoroughly tanked, beyond reason at that. Apparently our amber-eyed Marauder couldn't hold his butterbeer…or had it been firewhiskey? How many glasses had he drunk, just one or multiple? More than one, he was at least sure of seeing his glass empty several times. That was probably why he had been able to go through with the whole act. A frown found it's way onto the youth's features. The audience had applauded…quite a lot. So then the quartet couldn't have done so deplorable. Unless they had done it to such an extreme that it had been comical. And there had been whistling.. Why had there been whistling? The gears in Remus' brain were taking forever to turn. And then it clicked. The arm hung loosely around his shoulder, another about his waist. A pair of satiny crimson lips. Strands of raven hair dangling in his face. The lingering taste of bittersweet alcohol.

Remus swallowed roughly, a numb chill of horror traveling through his slender frame. Sirius had kissed him…KISSED HIM, Remus Lupin…on a stage…in front of hundreds of spectators…in front the TEACHERS…SIRIUS BLACK HAD SNOGGED HIM. As one could plainly see Moony's poor mind was having some trouble digesting this bit of information.

'We were drunk. Completely out of it. Didn't mean a thing…' Had Sirius been drunk? Must have been, it was impossible any other way, no other reason for him to have…done what he had done now was there?

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Wheee, a cliffhanger…sorta. - Thankee for reading my fic, throw any trash out on your way out and please review if you have the time.


	2. Patience is a Virtue

Title: Keep Me Close

Spoilers: Not really, but some from anything you've heard about the past from books 1-5

Rating: PG-13, better safe than sorry, no?

Disclaimer: I own nodda, the song belongs to the Offspring…I think and the characters, etc don't belong to me either.. Wouldn't mind owning them though...in my dreams.

Other things: This is a slash fic, if you do not like slash then you need not read.

Pairings: S/R, and probably others -

Author's Note: Looky, looky! I wrote a chapter two! Which really should be expected of me, if I was a good authoress and behaved.. But since I'm horrible and forgetful, I feel ridiculously proud. Even though at the moment I'm writing this I haven't exactly finished the chapter..but..well.. Eh. It's coming along fine. Also to everyone who reviewed thank you so much. Reviews make me a ridiculously happy girl so yep, keep them coming.. If you want me happy that is. A note to Versipellis, I mentioned in the beginning of the first chapter why they were able to use that song, it's just a bit tiny and short and easy to miss over. Thanks for your concern. - Oh yea, anyone want to be my Beta person? I've never had one and they seem to be useful. Nod, nod Plus it might make me update faster. Yes, that was my pitiful attempt of tempting one of you into being my beta Now, enough with my mindless rambling and onto the fic.

CHAPTER 2: Patience is a Virtue

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Dark blue eyes drifted restlessly to the time, why was class not even half way over? Why had Madame Pomfrey been so cruel and insisted that he and the others scadattle off to class. Sirius was completely certain that Remus' health was much more important than some stupid lesson about something had happened centuries ago. So, why was he stuck here? The male impatiently tapped his fingers against the surface of the wooden table.

Sirius was forced out of his reverie by a sudden sharp prod in his side. He threw his best friend and owner of the intruding elbow an annoyed look.

James smirked briefly and then sighed. "Sirius, there's no point in worrying. She said Moony was going to be fine. He just drank a little too much last night." He whispered glancing to the front of the classroom to make sure that Mr. Binns was still engrossed in his lecture.

"Well, yea…" Sirius trailed off as he tried to think of a good counter attack for the arising argument. "..But what if maybe Snivellus spiked Remmy's drink, not with alcohol though…instead with a twisted and evil potion that's slowly and painfully killing him!" His voice rose as he got caught up in his own and crazy explanation and got another hard poke in the gut.

"If we get detention for you blabbing so loud, then we won't be able to see him for even longer." James pointed out softly in an amused tone, ignoring the less than sane theory Sirius had produced.

"You're just worried because you have Quidditch practice after lessons today, so don't you start playing goody-two shoes with me." Sirius hissed, kicking James in the shin under the table.

James flashed him an innocent smile, and shrugged; though he did wince at the kick.

Peter twisted around his chair to see his two friends. "What are you guys talking about?" He asked, neglecting to attempt at speaking low or hide the fact he was completely facing away from the teacher. Sirius groaned and shook his head.

"Nothing Petey, just piquancy, and that sort for Herbology." James said, lying with complete ease, he really couldn't afford to get detention. Peter blinked, lost briefly, but was able to get that whatever the two were talking about, if it had to do with Herbology, then well, it probably was no better then Mr. Binn's lesson. He sighed, turning around to attempt to pay attention.

Sirius laid his head down onto of his notes…what were supposed to be his notes but were instead blank sheets of parchment. He stared cross-eyed down at the paper. He could always copy them from…wait…no… Remus wouldn't have today's notes, not if he was missing class. And thus Sirius mind was back where it had begun not long ago.

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Remus had finally pulled his head out from beneath the pillow. It was too difficult to breathe, and it was hot under there. He stared numbly up at the infirmary ceiling, silently replaying the events of last over in his head. He had already firmly decided that the kiss had meant absolutely nothing…A little smooch to bring on the cheers. A joke.. A thing he should be forgetting right now instead of hopelessly reliving. The werewolf pulled up the thin blanket up to his neck.

His eyes slipped shut as he ordered himself to block out the entire memory. It's easy, pretend that the whole nightmare had never happened. Or that it was simply that, a passing nightmare… a dream…the contents too bittersweet to be the other. Remus mentally cursed himself. Thinking like that was not going to improve his situation. No, not in the least. It all hurt so much.. Why?

A faint tread of approaching footsteps warned Remus of someone coming. He focused on breathing slowly and evenly; he definitely was not in the mood to talk to a visitor or Madame Pomfrey. Remus was quite talented at feigning sleep having done so on many restless nights. He allowed his body to loosen, muscles relax, and not to squeeze his eyes shut.

A sigh of disappoint came from the person standing beside the bed. Remus stiffened despite himself, doing the near impossible by recognizing the identity of the visitor.

Sirius pouted slightly at the sight of the supposedly sleeping Remus. He had gone through plenty of trouble slipping into the infirmary past Madame Pomfrey's watchful eyes (that prat, who dared to call himself his best friend had denied him use of the invisibility cloak) and he had gone in between classes at that. He had at the least hoped to be able to say a quick hello and figure out if the patient was truly okay. The teen fought off the temptation to wake the other, Remus needed his rest. He reached out; his hand touched the pale male cheek lightly, trailing up to the brunette's forehead.

To Remus' absolute horror, he nearly leaned up into the hand. Absently he noticed how it had faint calluses, probably from occasionally playing Quidditch, overall the hand was smooth and warm...belonging to an individual who really never had had to work, labor in his life.

"I'm sorry Remmy…I shouldn't have let you get like this." Sirius mummered. Truth be told, he wasn't to blame. It wasn't his responsibility to monitor Remus' alcohol intake.. Yet, he still felt guilty, as if he should have known just because.

There was a pause of heavy silence and then our stunned Remus found himself on the receiving end of a light peck of a kiss. And to his ever-growing terror he whimpered softly instinctually when the other boy pulled back.

Sirius blinked, and stared at Remus in bewilderment. Had he just made a sound? Was he awake? Could he be? He leaned in closer, studying his friend's face intently; a few strands falling down to dangle irritatingly in front of his eyes. No, Remus was sound asleep.

Unbeknownst to him, Remus was wide-awake, heart pounding, and his mind racing. And once Sirius left his bedside and exited from the infirmary the now becoming familiar pillow was clamped over his head. The sleep act a lost cause.

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Sirius leaned against the cool stone wall outside the infirmary, relieved to have made it through the place once again without an accidental run in with Madame Pomfrey. Now all he had to do was to get his bum ('amazingly sexy and worshipable bum' his mind corrected) down to Potions class ASAP or face the dire consequences.

Unfortunately, it was at that precise moment what he had done hit him. Without the overbearing worry about Remus condition clouding his thoughts, a new and important one crossed his mind. He had kissed one of his closest friends for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. Last night he had been drunk. Not too drunk, but enough to sway his decision, as if he wasn't a rash, act without thinking person already. Actually, that had been a rather good kiss. It most definitely rated high with him, and if anyone was an expert on kisses you could bet Sirius Black was.

Sirius frowned thoughtfully..

"Ah, Mr. Black, what are you doing ambling about the halls at this time. I'm certain that you should be in class around now, shouldn't you?" An adult's voice broke through. And Sirius mentally gulped, and put on his normal grin, preparing himself for a quick and hopefully successful explanation about why he was out and about.

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Okay..so it's shorter than my last chapter. ;; That one was really long, for me anyway..but..I tried my best to make this one as good. And judging by the reviews (assuming I get some) I'll know.. Um…slightly a cliffhanger.. Not so much as before? ..Is it? …And did I even get anywhere plot-wise…or explaining the kisses. Gah.. I'll shut up now. Pretty please review, it raises my low self-esteem.


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